Poker Is A Job For An "Animal"
My Love/Hate Relationship With The Highs And Lows Of A Poker Career

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Home At Last :(

Got a feeling this could be a long post, u hav been warned !

Just woke up from 15 hours sleep after getting back last night. Hit the scales to read 3/4 stone increase, about what expected but still oooops. I basically carried on my bad eating and drinking habits from vegas the whole time on the cruise ship and told myself i would worry about it when i got home.

The cruise as a whole was fantastic. Wouldnt know where to start, can see why they are normally full of oldies but this one wasnt and i will 100% try and get on any poker cruise package in future for sure. I ended up $2000 in profit for poker/gambling which im happy enough with, one day i will bring back a large wedge from one of these things though. Puerto Rico was nice but seemed a bit too built up for my liking. St Thomas and St Maarten were both fantastic with the latter being my favourite. I even preferred what i saw to St Kitts there, the beach was lush and i definitely want to go back there for poker or otherwise asap. There is poker on there now and if the same St Maarten open runs next year im defintely 50% or more to go i think. I got so relaxed on the trip and only niggles i could find were high internet fee & slightly bad weather compared to what we could have got. Right on to the poker i guess:

I played 4 tourneys in total i think. 3 stts and cash omaha filled in some other time in the room. Cashed in all 3 stts winning 2 but the drunk omaha resulted in an overall loss. Unsure exact figure as only kept a running total of profit for the trip. So onto the tourneys:

First one was $270+ $100 rebuys and i crashed out at 100/200 level slow playing aces against a big raise preflop, guy hit trip 10s on flop and i was a gonna.

$440 i am struggling to remember so couldnt have been great. Oh comes back to me now, yeah fished missed, raised missed then shoved in on a draw to be called by a better draw and lost. Table i had was so slow i remember it doing my head in totally tbh.

Wasnt planning others besides main event but stood drunk one night watching others playing the next $270 + $100 rebuys satellite and suddenly got an urge to enter at the end of the 3 levels at the last possible time. Was dealt no hands before the break and addon so started with 6000 from buyin rebuy and addon. This went against all tourneys i play normally where i hate missing a hand. I had missed 75 minutes of hands but for some reason fancied my chances ! Anyways i played on instinct which fortunately was right the majority of the time. My reraises all got through, junk often but there were probably 3-4 key hands that got me a $2700 seat = $2700 cash as already had a seat.

Playing 10k+ 150/300 ante 25 i called a min raise in the bb with 82cc after button had called also. Lead for a 1000 on a 875ccx board, called before button made it 4000. I allin and button committed with 66 missed for a huge pot relative to stacks at that point.

Cant remember all the details as got egg on my face on this one. Had about 20k b4 the hand and if lost would have had 13-14k which was still above average so when i raised with 85dd i called an allin genuinely thinking i was live but with poor pot odds. Think i would have folded if it wasnt a satellite but was lookin to get a stack that would secure a seat later and had spare. Anyway he had AA but i sucked out and never looked back.

Playing over 20k sb pushed 7xbb at 600bb with K2, i called with A10 but he hit.Next hand i put bb allin from sb with A3 and he instant calls 20xbb with J8std, WTF. Would have lost it if i didnt hold but fortunately i did and despite being well off the seat i now had the stack to finally secure it even though the bubble for the 12 seats only finally broke at 3000/6000 blinds.

So onto the $2700 main event. Summary, didnt last long but was very happy with my play. Key/interesting hands maybe including my biggest laydown in almost 5 years of poker (live or online) i will try to remember them all, laydown first anyway.

Playing 10,000 ish (starting stack) and limp for 50 with 94dd after an utg limper. 4 of us go to the flop and utg bets 150 on a KQ10 2 diamonds board. I make it 450 total and he calls. Turn is 5d and he chk calls my 750 bet. River is a 2h and he checks. I bet 2250, he thinks for a small time and makes it 6000 total. I tank for 4-5minutes i reckon. Basically the first minute or so i was calling. The 2nd minute i reviewed all the streets in my head and put myself in his position. Hadnt ruled out beating 76 or 87dd (as well as complete bluff obviously) but had this guy down as a good player from what i had seen so far so just couldnt put him on any of those 3 hands. Basically knew i was beat from that time on but took over 2 minutes to finally fold. Asked if i could expose my hand then decide but wasnt allowed and matey wasnt talking so couldnt know if he would show. Fortunately the guy told me he was happy to tell me when he or i bust or end of day etc. When i finally bust he confirmed he had A3dd and i 100% believe him. That guy went on to finish 2nd/114 by the way !

Playing 7000 50/100 i make it 400 on button knowing lady fish limping utg will call. A10off me. Flop is 984 and chk chk. turn is a 10 and she check calls 650 obviously chasing a draw. River is a lovely 7 and she bets 1650 in a way she had done earlier with the nuts. Easiest player at the table by a mile to read and i instant muck showing the 10 face up. This lady showed nearly every hand she won and this was no diff turning over KJoff immediately.

Playing 10,000 i limped for 50 with Q8hh. 3 of us see a flop, me in mid position. I bet 75 on a QJ7 flop only to be min raised by scandie next to me. Put him on a draw on a sim hand to me so call. Turn is a Q and i check call 350. River is a 6 and i check call 800 to be shown Q10off :(

Playing 4500ish at 75/150 i make it 400 utg with QQ. Get caller(s) before bb bumps it up to 1500 total. I flat call (wouldnt do on internet) putting the guy on AK. Its same guy i made laydown to so have seen enough hands to be confident he didnt have KK or AA from his bet size and action. Flop comes J73 all spades and i have Qs, he puts me in and i call. He has QQ but i hit and get back to 10600 stack.

Playing 8-10k i call an utg raise with AJoff on the button and sb lady comes along too. Flop is AK3 with 2 clubs and i make it 2000 after utg bets 600. sb moves in for 8000 total. She had just lost a silly 20k pot the hand b4 paying off aces from tight player with 10s on a 44523 board so i had to tank this one as well as couldnt rule out the flush draw on tilt from a weak player even though they were tight in terms of raising without a hand. Eventually i decide to probably fold but ask her not to show me a flush draw if i fold. She instantly responds with i promise not to which actually told me 100% she didnt have one. I wasnt angling for info i just didnt want to be annoyed with myself but by asking i had got all the info i needed. I should try speech talk more often it does make the game more fun and can help, more so on big decisions. Anyway she shows 333 and im left thinking why the heck im having such tough decisions today.

100/200 and tight abc guy makes it 550 weakly from mid position. Got instinct he had a hand he knw standard to raise with but didnt feel comfortable doing so. Cutoff calls and i make it 2650 from the button with Q2cc. Folds to raiser who folds fairly quickly but cutoff dwell then shoves in. Obviously im committed to the 4800 more to call, he shows AA. Board came A34K which 2 clubs but i bricked with no suckout on river, 3200 left after what i call the right move at the wrong time :(

100/200 button makes it 500 and i have 99. 2700 total stack goes in and i know he is calling as 2200 is small change to him. He shows K10off and board comes J10108x and im gone.

Next event, unsure yet. There is a gala final at Bristol shortly and an anniversary game at DTD. Beyond that i need to look at next years GUKPT schedule as well as consider sats for aussie millions or anything else which looks hot and appealing poker wise.